


Glass and Tape

by Capucine



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Alternate Universe - No Capes, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Brothers, Drabble Collection, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Neurodiversity, Non-Chronological, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2016-11-11
Packaged: 2018-08-30 08:40:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8526364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Capucine/pseuds/Capucine
Summary: They're a family where it matters, as Dick often says.
And sometimes it feels like only tape holding them together, but there's more.





	

He was just—he was so _small._

Dick had a vague feeling like Jason had never been this small, like he couldn’t have been. He’d always been a decent size child, just a bit behind Dick in size.

Tim was almost drowning the coat he was wearing.

And had apparently decided that Dick was the one who needed comforting.

“It’s okay, you know. Sometimes, bad things happen in the world.” He said it with the sage wisdom of a mature adult, not the tiny eight year old he really was.

And had Dick been a bit younger, he might’ve blurted, ‘Your parents are _dead._ That’s not _okay._ ’

But he wasn’t younger, and so he said, “Uh, I’m fine. Tim, do you want a hug or—“

“Death of people you know can be very traumatic,” Tim informed him, “It’s okay.”

And he was still comforting Dick, and it confounded Dick. Maybe it was for the best he didn’t have his license yet and Alfred was driving. “Tim, I don’t know if you realize this, but—“

“Especially neighbors, because that literally hits close to home. That’s why they even have that phrase,” Tim continued to inform him, as if he was on the outside of this case.

“I know. Especially family members—“

“But the key is to have a support system. Or perhaps a hot drink, since that simulates human warmth,” Tim said. And he was using far more stiff language than usual, blinking a lot, staring at the back of the seat in front of them.

“Tim, I have a support system. And you—“

“You can cry if you want to, you know,” Tim pointed out, perhaps picking up on Dick’s frustration. “You’re allowed.”

And Dick could have shaken him. “ _Tim._ I’m not traumatized right now. I think you are.”

And Tim finally looked at him, blinking owlishly, and that was about when Dick realized he’d broken whatever was holding Tim together.

He looked so utterly lost, confused, mouth opening and closing very slightly, and then, he turned back to stare at the back of the seat. His stare was far more blank than before, like his soul had left his body, or was hiding in the back of his head.

Dick had probably fucked up, and he thought he caught Alfred’s disapproving eye in the rearview mirror.

“Uh, Tim, I’m sorry, maybe you could tell me about, uh, how to deal with trauma…?”

No response.

And Dick let out a sigh, mentally kicking himself. It wasn’t how he would’ve wanted things to go at all.

**Author's Note:**

> Well. I read Familiar Scars by Lemonade_Garden, and...fucking fantastic. Couldn't put it down. I loved their depiction of Tim, and Jason, and Dick, and...I finished what's up.
> 
> So...I made more?
> 
> (Sorry. I wanted to toy with a no capes universe.)
> 
> AND
> 
> Tim is doing a thing I do--ignore my own feelings and take care of others so I don't have to feel them. Also, dissociating like fucking crazy once he can't do that.


End file.
